Game 1 - The Payback
- Thread starter TheRealness
- Start date
That was very satisfying. Great responses all around, and it's nice to be the team with the hot goalie.
Going into last night I was perplexed by the apparent consensus - both nationally and locally - that the Bruins were overmatched and had no chance in the series. I'm no hockey expert, but that seemed odd based on both the regular-season history and the fact that the NHL playoffs are notoriously unpredictable. I guess they may as well keep on playing...
Going into last night I was perplexed by the apparent consensus - both nationally and locally - that the Bruins were overmatched and had no chance in the series. I'm no hockey expert, but that seemed odd based on both the regular-season history and the fact that the NHL playoffs are notoriously unpredictable. I guess they may as well keep on playing...
I think it stems from how easily the Panthers beat Tampa, but that Tampa team is not what it was 3-4 years ago. They’ve lost a lot of talent and are not very deep, are starting to have some key players getting into their mid-30s, and struggled with consistency all year. But I feel like that series informed the idea that the Panthers were ready to roll, and that clearly wasn’t the case last night.
While foolish, it is totally unsurprising that media people are all picking Florida:
1. They all picked Boston last year and got burned.
2. They don't care about this year's regular season games.
3. To Florida's credit, they did just demolish a Tampa Bay team that probably isn't terrible, even if, as @IdiotKicker just said, they are not what they were.
4. Florida made the finals last year
5. Everyone knows Toronto is a bunch of losers so if you need OT of game 7 to slip by them, what does that tell you?
6. Most importantly, they also, fundamentally, don't care about anything actually hockey related. This is all just click bait, talk radio level, theater. Half the people making these picks couldn't tell you if Mason Lohrei is a hockey player or a boutique furniture store.
1. They all picked Boston last year and got burned.
2. They don't care about this year's regular season games.
3. To Florida's credit, they did just demolish a Tampa Bay team that probably isn't terrible, even if, as @IdiotKicker just said, they are not what they were.
4. Florida made the finals last year
5. Everyone knows Toronto is a bunch of losers so if you need OT of game 7 to slip by them, what does that tell you?
6. Most importantly, they also, fundamentally, don't care about anything actually hockey related. This is all just click bait, talk radio level, theater. Half the people making these picks couldn't tell you if Mason Lohrei is a hockey player or a boutique furniture store.
True, and of course the Bruins barely escaped the Leafs series. One of the yahoos on the Felger/Holley late-night show (I don't know all of the names) actually said "You can make an argument that the Bruins shouldn't even be here."
I forgot what a great feeling it is the day after an ass kicking when nobody thought you’d win.
Fuck the it’s gravy from here talk. The way number 1 is playing, we can win the whole damn thing. Don’t take these types of moments for granted. I think we could have something special here.
Fuck the it’s gravy from here talk. The way number 1 is playing, we can win the whole damn thing. Don’t take these types of moments for granted. I think we could have something special here.
Yeah "it's all gravy" ebbs and flows. They get to 3 wins in this series and lose and it's going to hurt. But then it resets next round.
I agree they may have something here. They got the monkey off their back in game 7. They gained confidence. They have the goalie. This feels like a snowball picking up speed and size coming down the mountain. LFG.
Excited by this strong start to this series. And this is a hell of a ride.
In a sense everything after 2004 is all gravy. The world where the Boston Red Sox simply couldn’t win the big one was razed to the ground. And the four major Boston teams have won at least one title each since then. The Bruin’s Stanley Cup run was one of the most fantastic of this new world. (And I guess this really started with the Patriots in 2002) But knowing that the possibility is there does spur on a desire to win it all.
I’ve been pleasantly surprised by this team’s regular season. Really happy to see the growth in individual players. More optimistic about the coming seasons. And yes I want this playoff run to continue - it is freaking fun. I like rooting for this combination of players. Who knows how far they’ll go. But I won’t doubt them. They‘ve shown a spark and resilience that have rekindled that sense of exuberance and possibility.
I’m still thinking about how they gave up a goal and then scored 4 goals on their next 5 shots. What a counterpunch.
It's probably bullshit, but I do wonder how much of game 1 had to do with the Bruins walking straight out of an OT game 7 mindset while the Panthers just walked out of an "easy" 4-1 series that was never in doubt. 3-0 series lead, a 6-1 drubbing to close out the series, and sitting around for a week.
I guess this mostly feels like a radio caller talking point, but there's a little part of it that feels true to me. I expect after getting punched in the mouth, Florida comes out hot for game 2.
I guess this mostly feels like a radio caller talking point, but there's a little part of it that feels true to me. I expect after getting punched in the mouth, Florida comes out hot for game 2.
I feel the same way. The broadcast talked a good bit about how people would rather have a week off than 48ish hours, but I don't know. A week is a long time.
Bobrovsky played the puck like it was a manhole cover and the whole team seemed a bit ... not "rusty". But off, slightly. I'd bet they come out strong tomorrow.
Feels like there's at least something to this, especially going from round 1 to round 2...teams arent usually too gassed at this point right? I can see wanting the extra time off later on in the playoffs, but can certainly see something to be said for keeping rhythm at this point.
Hockey is very matchup specific and I don't think people (I'm loathe to use the word pundits) gave enough credit to Taranna. That team was real good, and it took a lot to boot them out.
I love the Bolts (I've been living in Tampa for almost 15 years) but this is a shadow of the former team. The legends are really starting to age and the group behind them haven't bridged the gap. The depth isn't there and it's going to take them a bit to retool. Big offseason for them.
I love the Bolts (I've been living in Tampa for almost 15 years) but this is a shadow of the former team. The legends are really starting to age and the group behind them haven't bridged the gap. The depth isn't there and it's going to take them a bit to retool. Big offseason for them.
Most of it is usually post-hoc "analysis." "Bruins won, so rust must've lost" type of thing. But I think that's far less likely where, as here, the onslaught did not come at the beginning of the game, but much later. It also discounts the fact that FL was good/not rusty enough to really test Swayman early.
The Bruins dont suck (this isn't some team that barely squeaked into the playoffs with sub-500 record or something), they are very confident (or at least have had the worry-monkey removed from their backs), they are relatively healthy, and they have a smoking hot goalie. That's a pretty good pile of ingredients.
Jim Montgomery post-game: “I will say, I thought our effort was good. I thought we were physical. I don’t think our execution was close to where it needs to be. We made a lot of mistakes. And if it’s not for Jeremy Swayman, that would have been a really — a lot closer game and maybe they come out on top. Like, we didn’t have enough scoring chances. Yeah, the score is not indicative of the way the game went.”
I don't buy rust at all. That game was dead even for 30 minutes and Florida scored the first goal.
That's why I said I didn't think it was rust.
It's like the difference between a band mid-tour, where they've been playing every day for a few weeks, and a band on night 1 or 2 of a tour after a break. They're rehearsed. They come out strong. They don't make mistakes. But the show endurance isn't there yet. The seamless transitions between songs aren't quite so seamless. People forget the new queues.
It's like the difference between a band mid-tour, where they've been playing every day for a few weeks, and a band on night 1 or 2 of a tour after a break. They're rehearsed. They come out strong. They don't make mistakes. But the show endurance isn't there yet. The seamless transitions between songs aren't quite so seamless. People forget the new queues.
not a fan of this coach--I know he has had two good seasons and he is doing the normal find something we can do better to comment upon but his continuing negativity will lose the team
Continuing negativity? He was borderline giddy after the game 6 loss last year.
Are you in a time warp, talking about Cassidy?
Knock him all you want, but to say this about Montgomery, in particular, seems like quite a misread.
I mean, the guy pretty much exudes some strong Ted Lasso energy all the time.
"Lose the team"? They just pulled themselves from a frying pan in a Game 7 that was potentially full of ghosts with puckered asses (blowing another 3-1 lead), and then dominated a game in another "here come the ghosts" (last year's blown 3-1 lead team) game. I suspect that "losing the team" is far, far down the list of likely outcomes this spring.
Montgomery is a regular Norman Vincent Peale back there.
To me, Montgomery has pulled the right levers in at least three ways in the last couple of games:
-Saying that Pasta needed to step up. He'd been rather invisible as the 3-1 series lead disappeared.
-The well timed time out in game 1 when the Bruins were looking pretty flat holding on to the lead. Pretty sure he told them they were kind of playing timid and shitty in the huddle right?
-The above comments about game 1. After the way the B's played after being up in the Laffs series, I think it's good to keep them grounded and say that yeah, they crushed the Panthers on the scoreboard but by no means was that indicative of how the overall game went. You've got to keep the team focused and keep their collective feet on the pedal.
All of the above could be taken as "negativity" if you want to call them that but I'd be hard pressed as a player to tune out the coach when he's actually, ya know, right.
-Saying that Pasta needed to step up. He'd been rather invisible as the 3-1 series lead disappeared.
-The well timed time out in game 1 when the Bruins were looking pretty flat holding on to the lead. Pretty sure he told them they were kind of playing timid and shitty in the huddle right?
-The above comments about game 1. After the way the B's played after being up in the Laffs series, I think it's good to keep them grounded and say that yeah, they crushed the Panthers on the scoreboard but by no means was that indicative of how the overall game went. You've got to keep the team focused and keep their collective feet on the pedal.
All of the above could be taken as "negativity" if you want to call them that but I'd be hard pressed as a player to tune out the coach when he's actually, ya know, right.
The Bruins continue to play with house money.
Winning Game 1 on the road means they head back to Boston with no worse than the chance to win a 5 game series. Go back to Boston up 2-0 and Florida is officially on the ropes.
The lack of pressure on them will hopefully continue to pay off and allow them to play free and fun hockey.
Winning Game 1 on the road means they head back to Boston with no worse than the chance to win a 5 game series. Go back to Boston up 2-0 and Florida is officially on the ropes.
The lack of pressure on them will hopefully continue to pay off and allow them to play free and fun hockey.